Plymouth earned themselves a long trip to St James' Park after holding a much-changed Newcastle side to a goalless draw at Home Park.

The Newcastle manager, Chris Hughton, made seven changes to his starting line-up and his side shaded the first half, with Danny Guthrie twice going close to giving them the lead.

The second half descended into a war of attrition, but the Newcastle captain, Nicky Butt, came close to winning it late on when his 25-yard volley was superbly saved by the Plymouth goalkeeper, Romain Larrieu.

However, Plymouth held out for the draw and with it an 800-mile round trip to the north-east for the replay.

The result was Newcastle's second consecutive goalless draw while the Plymouth manager, Paul Mariner, saw his side extend their unbeaten run to three matches.

Newcastle's new-look line-up struggled early on, with Rory Fallon having a header saved by the visiting goalkeeper, Tim Krul. However, soon after, Newcastle fashioned the first real chance of the game when Ryan Taylor crossed for Fabrice Pancrate, but he reacted too slowly and allowed the ball to bounce off his standing leg.

In-form Plymouth looked dangerous going forward and Carl Fletcher was off target with an effort from distance before Luke Summerfield had a shot blocked by Tamas Kadar.

Alan Judge volleyed wide as the home side continued to press forward while at the other end Pancrate was inches away from getting on the end of a dangerous free-kick from Taylor.

As the half wore on, Newcastle began to dominate and Shola Ameobi had the ball in the back of the net after Pancrate hit a post. But the referee, Alan Wiley, ruled the effort out for a dubious foul by Pancrate on Gary Sawyer.

Ameobi was giving the Plymouth defence plenty of cause for concern and five minutes before the break his cross found Guthrie, who back-heeled just wide.

The former Bolton man came even closer on the stroke of half-time when his powerful strike from the edge of the area was superbly tipped round a post by Larrieu.

The second half got off to a feisty start, with Plymouth's Karl Duguid and Newcastle striker Nile Ranger both receiving yellow cards from Wiley following a tussle.

That skirmish set the tone as the clash descended into a scrappy affair, with neither side able to mount any sort of purposeful attack.

Plymouth's Chris Clark produced a poor final ball when well placed on the left before slicing a weak effort towards a corner flag moments later.

At the other end, Danny Simpson beat a couple of challenges, only to drive the ball wide with options ahead of him limited.

With four minutes remaining, Butt saw his looping volley tipped over by Larrieu as Plymouth managed to hold on for a draw.